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New Delhi: A day after the rebel MPs of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) announced that they would merge with the obscure Nationalist Citizens’ Party of India (NCPI), confusion reigned over the leadership of the latter party as well as the status of the merger, and how and why it was taking effect.

While its president Shewly Kundu said to The Wire that she had resigned about a month ago, two other office bearers said they were not in the know of the developments taking place as the majority of the MPs of the fourth-largest party in the Lok Sabha move to merge with it.

“I am no longer the president as I resigned about 20-30 days ago,” said Kundu over the phone to The Wire.

When asked if she was aware of the merger with the TMC rebels prior to her resignation, Kundu said she did not have any information. When asked if she knew who the new president was who had taken her place, she responded: “That cannot be disclosed now.”

On Sunday, The Wire reported that even before the merger had taken effect on the ground, murmurs of discontent had already come to the fore within the NCPI. Shantanu Dey, the party’s organisational secretary, had said to The Wire that the party should not welcome the TMC turncoats.

“If the........

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